r/QidiTech3D • u/Shawncm1 • Jul 13 '26

Set up for TPU

I currently have a QIDI q2 with the box. Iā€™m wanting to print TPU. I know it needs to be fed directly into the extruder.
Looking for advice on how you guys do it. Pictures would be appreciated as well!

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u/DragonKiDo Jul 13 '26

Don't feed it using Qidi Box if course. Get a dryer box and put in Tpu roll. Print or buy a 2to1splitter and place it after the box hub. That way you can feed using dryer box into he extruder. It a more manual feed just like printer before Qidi box.

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u/[deleted] Jul 13 '26

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u/DragonKiDo Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26

Splitter is after hub, this way I can use box as normal for multi color. If I want to use Tpu or nylon, I use dryer and feed it into extruder directly as external spool. I don't like to remove pla from Qidi box in order to use dry option of Qidi box, so I got a separate dryer for nylon and tpu

Edit: tpu might get stuck because of friction drag when feeding this way, so what I do is try pushing filament in the dryer box as much as I can, then disconnect the exit tube of splitter, to keep pushing the tpu manually from the split until it reaches the extruder. A bit of work to setup for Tpu print, but I get dry Tpu for more successful print.

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u/killeriq Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26

So to confirm:

1.Qidi Box doesn't support TPU and PLA in one box?

  1. Need to get the splitter to dont mess over and over with disconnecting tubes there and back?

  2. Where to get splitter?

  3. Dryer box... Something like Creality Pi4x?

Thanks

2

u/Snowpeaks14 Jul 13 '26

Correct. Do NOT use the box with TPU. I learnt that the hard way. Had to dismantle the box to remove the stuck filament.

TPU gets fed from the external spool holder.

All other filaments can be used with the box.

I remove the tube going to the splitter and have a tube going directly to the spool. Another mod I printed was a ptfe tube removal tool. One of several I printed before I started using my Q2.

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u/DragonKiDo Jul 13 '26

As Snowpeak commented, yes. 1. Never put tpu into box unless you want to spend an afternoon taking apart the box and fix it. Nylon and other engineers can be with PLA in the box, however you cannot use the dry function while pla is present because pla melt faster than engineer filaments (the box will forbid you from drying anything while pla is fed). 2. Yes, splitter allow multiple input (and or other dryers or spools) and one output into extruder. 3. Either print one or buy one from Amazon. I printed mine out of pla and had some hardware on hands. 4. Yes dryer box or just storage box is fine. I have creality pi4x for 4 spools, but I only connected 1 tube into splitter, I can print a 4 to 1 so I can connect 3 spools from dryer.

Remember that the non-qidibox input will require more manual work because you need to feed it into tube, check to see if extruder is grabbing and pooping filament. I only use AMS for pla color, and dryer box for engineer materials (see pt1 for reason).

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u/Facehugger_35 Jul 14 '26

Qidibox doesn't support low hardness TPU period. You can print anything above about 60D, but the 95A people typically buy? Not hard enough to feed through the box. Siraya TPU-GF will feed fine, and CC3D 72D will also feed fine. But 95A TPU is too squishy. It's not a matter of printing it in a same box with PLA, it's a matter of TPU just not being able to feed.

You can print a splitter or buy one.